Back to Focus

McChord spouse creates Facebook page

Page helps welcome new families to area, create community

McChord Field spouse Holly Mulvaney’s McChord Families Facebook page helps welcome people to the base. /Tyler Hemstreet

Email Article Print Article Share on Facebook Share on Reddit Share on StumbleUpon

McChord Field spouse Holly Mulvaney is very close with her family - all 1,700 of them.

While not all the members are related by blood, they are united by the Air Force.

Mulvaney is the site administrator for two Facebook pages that link, inform and bring together Air Force spouses and Airmen she's met at her own family's stops at various duty stations throughout her husband's 16-year military career.

"My families are very important to me," said Mulvaney, whose husband is a member of the 62nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron at McChord Field.

The first page, Air Force Families and Wives, Mulvaney started up about one year ago and currently has more than 1,600 members. She recently started another page, McChord Families, about two weeks ago.

"It's my baby," the 38-year-old Kansas native said of the new McChord page.

Mulvaney started the McChord page to help spouses PCSing to McChord Field get comfortable with their new surroundings and give them a leg up on meeting new people in the area.

"I want people to feel like they already have a contact person they can talk with before they move here," she said. "I want them to feel welcome."

The mother of three daughters ranging in age from nine to 16-years-old works many hours a week monitoring the pages and constantly posting information.

"I treat it like a business ... (the pages) are really a reflection of me, my husband and the Air Force," she said.

The response to the McChord page has been strong. One spouse recently posted that she had leftover baked dog treats and wanted to meet other families to give them away, while another member left a post sending out feelers for organizing a local kickball game. After Mulvaney recently made a post about local businesses that give military discounts, several other spouses commented on what discounts they have found.

"I'm trying to get people to interact," she said.

Mulvaney is considering adding an events section to the page where she can more formally create opportunities for members to meet each other face to face. She's also working on building up a list of notes where people can suggest good local doctors, dentists or first-hand information on the local school districts.

"I'm still trying to figure out just what people are wanting to see on the page," she said.

Mulvaney's page is friends with many of the other McChord squadron spouse pages as well.

"They support me, and I support them," she said.

Mulvaney decided to keep both of the Facebook pages on private settings (which require an accepted friend request to join) because she wants to protect her members' privacy, but she is always quick to grant access to military families who would like to get involved in the McChord community.  

"It's always nice to see the membership numbers continue to grow," she said.

Read next close

Military Life

McChord spouse pens book

Comments for "McChord spouse creates Facebook page"

Comments for this article are currently closed.